Everyone needs energy to fuel a desire to be productive. Then more energy to actually be productive.
What fuels your productivity?
Make a list of all the things that help to get you going. Motivate you to make things happen. Everything that adds a spring in your step and a spark to your day.
Focus on the things in your direct control – figuring out how to add more of whatever they are into your day. What do you absolutely LOVE to do in your role? Figure out how you can add that task or activity one more time during your day or week. Pile them up, make yourself smile, increase the things that give you energy.
Need a couple examples?
- A front line manager explained how much he LOVED talking with prospects and customers; together we came up with a plan for planning one customer meeting daily into his weeks. Knowing that was part of his day made him more excited about everything.
- A remote sales manager shared how conversations with her team members really added to her feelings of being valuable. Making sure she had 15 minutes on a video call with two or three of the people on her team satisfied that desire.
What drains your energy away?
Now that you’ve figured out what adds energy to your day – it’s time to make a list of all the things that suck the life out of you and make you feel heavy and tired. A friend of mine calls them energy vampires.
Years ago I saw Scott Blanchard and Madeleine Homan speak about their book Leverage Your Best, Ditch the Rest they introduced me to the idea of tolerations “the seemingly inconsequential little things that drain away your energy.”
One of their analogies is having one marble in your pocket all day, is insignificant – it doesn’t have any impact on your energy levels. What if you had 25 marbles in your pocket? Individually each marble still isn’t a big deal but all together they’re causing difficulty!
Sit down and write out everything that is bothering you – they do say to do all you can to get to at lest 25, no matter how insignificant it seems as you write it. Actually ESPECAILLY the ones that feel insignificant need to be on the list, you’ve probably been ignoring those completely.
NOW: Make sure you’re doing MORE of the things that add to the energy you have for productivity. While REDUCING things that drain your energy away.